PARIS | The game of musical chairs for next season in Formula 1 has begun: double Formula 1 world champion Fernando Alonso will leave the Alpine team to race in 2023 at Aston Martin, the English team announced on Monday.
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One champion replaces another, Alonso thus recovering the seat of the quadruple world champion at Red Bull, the German Sebastian Vettel, who announced last Thursday to retire from F1 at the end of the 2022 season.
“The whole Aston Martin team is very enthusiastic about welcoming Fernando’s incredible experience, his brilliant burst of speed and his racing expertise,” wrote the English team in a press release posted Monday morning on the internet. and on social networks.
“The recruitment of a special talent like that of Fernando is a strong declaration of intent on the part of an organization committed to developing a winning team in Formula 1”, adds the text.
A veteran of the grid (he celebrated his 41st birthday on Friday), the Taurus of Asturias, considered one of the greatest drivers of his generation, had assured earlier this season that he was ready to stay in F1 for “two or three years additional”.
At the end of the contract with the French manufacturer, it is therefore on the other side of the Channel that the pilot will continue his journey in F1, with “a multi-annual contract”, takes care to specify the Aston Martin team.
It was called Force India when it was owned by Indian billionaire Vijay Mallya, then Racing Point when it was first bought by Lawrence Stroll, the Canadian billionaire, before it changed its name.
This team “is clearly putting in the energy and commitment it takes to win, so it is one of the most exciting teams in Formula 1 today,” Alonso wrote in the same statement. .
And to continue: “I have known Lawrence (Stroll, team owner, editor’s note) and Lance (his son, the team’s other driver) for a long time and it is obvious that they have the ambition and the passion necessary to succeed in Formula 1”.
10th in the championship
Alonso drove in F1 between 2001 and 2018, winning the world title with Renault in 2005 and 2006. The Spaniard also raced for McLaren in 2007, then between 2015 and 2018 with disappointing results, the English team being at the bottom of the wave.
He had previously spent five years at Ferrari (2010-2014), without managing to win a new title, first against the ogre Vettel, then against Lewis Hamilton at Mercedes.
Lacking the means to win again in F1, the native of Oviedo then left F1 for two years. Time to win the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 2018 and 2019, the title of world endurance champion in 2018-2019, with Toyota, and to participate in the 500 Miles of Indianapolis and the Dakar rally-raid.
Returning to F1 last year, at 39, at Alpine, Renault’s new identity, he finished in a modest 10th place at the end of last season, ahead of his French teammate Esteban Ocon.
“I always have the thirst and the ambition to fight at the forefront, and I want to be part of an organization that is committed to learning, developing and succeeding,” assured “Nando” on Monday.
And if he continues, there is no question for him of appearing in the middle of the table: “I intend to win again in this sport and I must therefore seize the opportunities that seem good to me”.
His 98th and last podium, to date, dates back to the 2021 Qatar GP. His last victory, the 32nd, at the 2013 Spanish GP in Barcelona, in his native country.
Alonso is currently 10th in the World Championship, after 13 out of 22 races, with 41 points. Sunday, he finished 8th in the Hungarian Grand Prix, ahead of Ocon, due to a poor choice of tires by the French team, for its two drivers.
On the Aston Martin side, the team took 7th place (out of 10) in the constructors’ championship last year. It is currently 9th and penultimate, ahead of the British Williams team, while its single-seaters are equipped with Mercedes engines.
With the departure of the Spaniard, Alpine now has a free seat which should go to its reserve driver, the Australian Oscar Piastri, 21, crowned Formula 2 champion in 2021.